Census Bureau Stands by Numbers

Earlier today, in response to census data that shows that New York has about 200,000 less people than originally thought, Sen. Chuck Schumer said, “The Census Bureau has never known how to count urban populations and needs to go back to the drawing board. It strains credulity to believe that New York City has grown by only 167,000 people over the last decade.”

But in a statement, the Census Bureau stands by their numbers, saying that the slow growth they recorded in NYC mirrors that of other regions, where suburban growth outpaced urban growth. They also point out that population growth was down throughout the country, even as participation levels were at a high.

“We reported today early quality indicators that show a stronger Census than in 2000 thanks in part to higher levels of participation by the public than many projected,” said Steve Jost, Associate Director for Communications for the Census Bureau “Nationally the growth rate from 2000 was one of the lowest measured in the last century. The pattern in New York City as like that seen in many other large cities — higher rates of growth in suburbs than in urban cores.”

When asked if the Census believes that in fact, the borough of Queens only gained little more than a 1,000 people over the last ten years, as the data suggests, a spokesman for the census bureau said, “That’s correct.”